March, 1912.] 



213 



Edible Products. 



been stated that Queensland arrowroot 

 is an adulterant 1 Whereas it is gener- 

 ally conceded that, so far from that, it 

 is preferable as a food to the Bermuda 

 product. The purple variety, which is, 

 as said, exclusively cultivated in Queens- 

 land, grows to a great height, often 

 rising to 8 ft. or 9 ft. It has very large, 

 broad ribbed leaves ; and as many as 15 

 to 20 stalks rise from a single stool, each 

 stalk representing a large bulb. In the 

 flowering season the plant sends up a 

 long, straight spike, from the head of 

 which bursts a beautiful bunch of bright 

 scarlet flowers, having the appearance 

 of those of the common Canna known 

 as "Indian Shot" but far larger. The 

 seeds do not often mature, however, as 

 do those of the Canna family generally. 

 The bulbs from which the arrowroot of 

 commerce is prepared form a compact 

 mass on and near the surface of the soil, 

 and so prolific is the plant that I have 

 dug from a single stool as much as 60 lb. 

 and even 80 lb. weight of bulbs. 



Method of Cultivation— Soil and 

 Climate. 



It does not follow that because there 

 are, at present, only one or two princi- 

 pal centres of arrowroot manufacture in 

 Queensland, therefore the plant will 

 thrive only in these localities, which are 

 mainly located on the South Coast line, 

 at Pimpama Coomera and Ormeau. On 

 the contrary, it grows luxuriantly on 



"all the coast lands — from the Tweed 

 River in the far South to Cooktown in 

 the far North. As to soil, it prefers the 

 rich alluvial scrub lands on river and 

 creek banks, but does very well also on 

 the deep black soils of open country. 



_^This refers to the purple variety. The 



"'Bermuda plant prefers a more sandy 

 loamy soil, deep, with no clay subsoil. 

 The writer grew both varieties at Oxley 

 on the newly-cleared scrub land border- 

 ing that creek, and found that the 

 Maranta (Bermuda) did not thrive well 

 on the rich soil, many plants producing 

 only two or three tubers, 6 or 7 in. long, 



_and about 1 in. diameter. The purple 

 Canna, on the contrary, grew most 

 luxuriantly, and produced an enormous 

 quantity of bulbs, which found a ready 

 sale at Mr. Grime's mill, then located 

 on the Brisbane River, 



The climate and rainfall in the dis- 

 tricts named were exactly suited to the 

 well-being of the plants, and it is 

 worthy of note that no insect or fungoid 

 pests were ever observable either on 

 leaf stem, or bulbs. It follows that a 

 deep, rich, well-drained soil and a 

 moderate rainfall are all that is needed 

 to ensure a good crop, 



Cultivation. 

 A visit to some of the arrowroot 

 farms serves to show that there is a 

 similarity among them all, both in pre- 

 paration of the land, planting after 

 cultivation, and harvesting. 



Where planting takes place in newly 

 burnt-off scrub land, the innumerable 

 stumps, of course, occupy so much of the 

 surface as to preclude any ploughing. 

 It then becomes necessary to dig holes 

 with a sharp mattock or hoe which will 

 cut the roots of the felled trees with 

 which the ground is matted. The rows 

 should be about 6 ft. apart with 4 ft. 

 6 in. between the holes ; but owing to 

 the presence of stumps, very little re- 

 gularity can be observed, and the 

 planter must do the best he can as to 

 distances between plants. On open 

 cleared lauds, where the plough can be 

 used, the proper distances can be obser- 

 ved, The land, in the latter case, should 

 be thoroughly well ploughed, harrowed, 

 and pulverised. Then shallow drills are 

 drawn with the plough about 6 in. deep, 

 and at the regulation distance of 4 ft. 

 6 in. apart single small bulbs are dropped 

 and covered by turning a furrow over 

 them on each sidei On very rich new 

 land, the best results have been obtain- 

 ed by placing the rows 8 ft. apart. As 

 the land becomes poorer, the rows may 

 be closer together, but should not be of 

 a less width than 6 ft. I saw a field lately 

 at Pimpama, on what was once an old 

 sugar plantation (Ormeau), in which the 

 rows were 6 ft. apart, yet in the month 

 of April the plants had spread to such an 

 extent that it was difficult to walk bet- 

 ween them. 



When the plants are above ground, 

 they must be kept clean as in the case of 

 other crops, and by the time they are 

 about 3 ft. high they will want little 

 further cultivation beyond throwing up 

 a furrow against the roots-hilling up, in 

 fact, as with potatoes. From this time 

 forward, the heavy foliage will soon 

 have covered the ground, thus effectually 

 preventing the growing of weeds. 



The planting season exteuds from 

 August, after the last frosts to the end 

 cf November and even up to January in 

 some late localities. When full grown, 

 a field of Canna presents a very pretty 

 sight, the broad leaves of dark-green 

 giving a fine impression of richness and 

 contrasting vividly with the numerous 

 scarlet blossoms to be seen on the plants. 

 From six to eight months — the latter 

 term as a rule— bring the crop to matur- 

 ity, and a little frost is then beneficial 

 by shrivelling up the tops and concen- 

 trating the starch in the bulbs. Suppos- 



